# 吏

| 吏 | U+540F, &#21519; CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-540F |
| ← 后 [U+540E] | CJK Unified Ideographs | 吐 → [U+5410] |
| 吏 | U+F9DE, &#63966; CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9DE |
| ← 利 [U+F9DD] | CJK Compatibility Ideographs | 履 → [U+F9DF] |

## Translingual
### Han character

吏 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 十中大 (JLK), four-corner 5000$_6$, composition ⿻一史 or ⿻丈口)

#### Derived characters

* 使, 𠲀, 𦧜, 𧧅, 𪘌, 𫣙, 𣥱, 𣦰, 㤦, 𣆘, 𫊳, 𩂲, 𣳪, 𬃻, 𧀞, 𮃂, 𫣚, 𥒅, 𩰢, 𥥥, 𠦱, 𦪨, 𣬒, 𩢲(𬳺), 㹬, 𧳅, 𥟹, 𫾫

#### References

* Kangxi Dictionary: page 176, character 2
* Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3299
* Dae Jaweon: page 393, character 2
* Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 18, character 3
* Unihan data for U+540F
* Unihan data for U+F9DE

## Chinese
### Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 吏 :
| Western Zhou | Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) | Liushutong (compiled in Ming) |
| Bronze inscriptions | Small seal script | Transcribed ancient scripts |
| | Old Chinese |
| 吏 | *rɯs |
| 倳 | *ʔsrɯs |
| 剚 | *ʔsrɯs |
| 事 | *ʔsrɯs, *zrɯs |
| 史 | *srɯʔ |
| 使 | *srɯʔ, *srɯs |
| 駛 | *srɯʔ, *srɯs |
Alternative descendant of 叓, which is the ancient form of 事. Furthermore, both characters are related to 史, which was born as a variant without the horizontal stroke on top.
The character should represent a hand holding a flag to mean "representative, ambassador"; see 使.

### Etymology

See 理 (lǐ, “envoy, jail official, matchmaker”).

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): lì (li$^4$)
    (Zhuyin): ㄌㄧˋ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): lei$^6$
* Hakka (Sixian, PFS): li
* Eastern Min (BUC): lê
* Southern Min
    (Hokkien, POJ): lī / lē
    (Teochew, Peng'im): li$^7$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: lì
*** Zhuyin: ㄌㄧˋ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: lì
*** Wade–Giles: li$^4$
*** Yale: lì
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lih
*** Palladius: ли (li)
*** Sinological IPA : /li⁵¹/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: lei$^6$
*** Yale: leih
*** Cantonese Pinyin: lei$^6$
*** Guangdong Romanization: léi$^6$
*** Sinological IPA : /lei̯²²/
* Hakka
** (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
*** Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: li
*** Hakka Romanization System: li
*** Hagfa Pinyim: li$^4$
*** Sinological IPA: /li⁵⁵/
* Eastern Min
** (Fuzhou)
*** Bàng-uâ-cê: lê
*** Sinological IPA : /l̃ɛi²⁴²/
* Southern Min
** (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lī
*** Tâi-lô: lī
*** Phofsit Daibuun: li
*** IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /li³³/
*** IPA (Quanzhou): /li⁴¹/
*** IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /li²²/
** (Hokkien: Quanzhou, Xiamen)
*** Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lē
*** Tâi-lô: lē
*** Phofsit Daibuun: le
*** IPA (Quanzhou): /le⁴¹/
*** IPA (Xiamen): /le²²/
* lī/lē - literary;
* lē - vernacular (俗, Xiamen).
* Middle Chinese: liH
Rime :
| Character | 吏 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| Initial (聲) | 來 (37) |
| Final (韻) | 之 (19) |
| Tone (調) | Departing (H) |
| Openness (開合) | Open |
| Division (等) | III |
| Fanqie | 力置切 |
| Baxter | liH |
| Reconstructions ||
| Zhengzhang Shangfang | /lɨ$^H$/ |
| Pan Wuyun | /lɨ$^H$/ |
| Shao Rongfen | /lie$^H$/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank | /lɨ$^H$/ |
| Li Rong | /liə$^H$/ |
| Wang Li | /lĭə$^H$/ |
| Bernhard Karlgren | /li$^H$/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex | lì |
| Expected Cantonese Reflex | lei$^6$ |
* Old Chinese
    (Baxter–Sagart): /*[r]əʔ-s/
    (Zhengzhang): /*rɯs/
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014) :
| Character | 吏 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) | lì |
| Middle Chinese | ‹ li$^H$ › |
| Old Chinese | /*[r]əʔ-s/ |
| English | officer |
| Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary. ||
Zhengzhang system (2003) :
| Character | 吏 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| No. | 11482 |
| Phonetic component | 史 |
| Rime group | 之 |
| Rime subdivision | 0 |
| Corresponding MC rime | 吏 |
| Old Chinese | /*rɯs/ |
| Notes | 史轉註字 |

### Definitions

吏
* (historical) government official
* (historical) petty official
* a surname

### Compounds

* 一行作吏
* 下吏
* 俗吏 (súlì)
* 健吏
* 僕吏 / 仆吏
* 公吏
* 六房吏典
* 六房書吏 / 六房书吏
* 典吏
* 刀筆吏 / 刀笔吏
* 刻木為吏 / 刻木为吏
* 削木為吏 / 削木为吏
* 吏員 / 吏员
* 吏士
* 吏民
* 吏治 (lìzhì)
* 吏目
* 吏胥
* 吏議 / 吏议
* 吏讀 / 吏读 (lìdú)
* 吏道
* 吏部 (Lìbù)
* 園吏 / 园吏
* 堠吏
* 大吏
* 奸胥猾吏
* 委吏
* 守吏
* 官吏 (guānlì)
* 官虎吏狼
* 家吏
* 將吏 / 将吏 (jiànglì)
* 小吏 (xiǎolì)
* 幹吏 / 干吏
* 府小吏
* 庫吏 / 库吏
* 廉吏
* 從吏 / 从吏
* 循吏 (xúnlì)
* 排房吏典
* 掾吏 (yuànlì)
* 故吏 (gùlì)
* 朱衣吏
* 汙吏 / 污吏 (wūlì)
* 汙吏黠胥 / 污吏黠胥
* 法吏
* 津吏
* 濫吏贓官 / 滥吏赃官
* 濫官汙吏 / 滥官污吏 (lànguān-wūlì)
* 爪牙吏
* 猾吏
* 獄吏 / 狱吏 (yùlì)
* 甕間吏部 / 瓮间吏部
* 甲吏
* 疆吏
* 純吏 / 纯吏
* 署吏
* 老吏
* 胥吏 (xūlì)
* 能吏
* 苛吏 (kēlì)
* 蒙吏
* 計吏 / 计吏
* 貪吏 / 贪吏 (tānlì)
* 貪吏猾胥 / 贪吏猾胥
* 貪官汙吏 / 贪官污吏 (tānguān-wūlì)
* 郵吏 / 邮吏
* 酷吏 (kùlì)
* 長吏 / 长吏 (zhǎnglì)
* 門吏 / 门吏 (ménlì)
* 門生故吏 / 门生故吏 (ménshēng gùlì)
* 驛吏 / 驿吏
* 墨吏
* 黠吏 (xiálì)

## Japanese
### Kanji

(Jōyō kanji)
* (historical) petty official (low-ranking public servant)

#### Usage notes

Whereas high-ranking government officials are referred to as 官 (kan), low-ranking ones are called 吏 (ri).

#### Readings

* Go-on: り (ri, Jōyō)
* Kan-on: り (ri, Jōyō)
* Kun: つかさ (tsukasa, 吏)

### References

* Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN

## Korean
### Etymology

From Middle Chinese 吏 (MC liH). Recorded as Middle Korean 리〯 (lǐ) (Yale: li) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

### Hanja

Wikisource 吏 (eumhun 벼슬아치 리 (byeoseurachi ri), word-initial (South Korea) 벼슬아치 이 (byeoseurachi i))
* hanja form of 리/이 (“government official”)

#### Compounds

* 관리 (官吏, gwalli)
* 서리 (胥吏, seori)
* 옥리 (獄吏, ongni)
* 이두 (吏讀, idu)
* 이서 (吏胥, iseo)
* 탐관오리 (貪官汚吏, tamgwanori)

### References

* 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

## Vietnamese
### Han character

吏: Hán Nôm readings: lại, lưỡi
* (only in compound quan lại) chữ Hán form of lại (“government official”).
* Nôm form of lại (“again”).

### References

* ↑ Viện Nghiên cứu Hán Nôm.
* ↑ Hồ (1976).